What happened
Canada expects about 700,000 skilled trades workers to retire between 2019 and 2028, and women hold only 7.9 per cent of trades jobs. A research piece, reported by Talent Canada and republished from The Conversation, argues that getting women to enter the trades is only half the problem. Keeping them is the other half.
The authors, Daniela Gatti of the University of Toronto and Mark Julien of Brock University, interviewed women working in electrical, carpentry and plumbing trades across Canada. Many were the only woman on their job site. They described isolation, scrutiny, harassment and constant questioning of their competence. Some families treated the career as a waste or a temporary phase.
When support at work and at home fell short, many women turned to private groups on Facebook and LinkedIn. There they asked technical questions, tested whether a supervisor's behaviour was normal or abusive, and found encouragement. In one case, a group shared job postings that helped a woman leave a toxic workplace but stay in the trade in her city. The authors say employers and policymakers should recognize these networks and fold them into training, mentorship and support programs.
Why it matters if you are hiring
With a retirement wave this large, every tradesperson you train and then lose is expensive to replace. If your recruiting plan only widens the top of the funnel, you are ignoring where people are actually leaving.
The research points at conditions you control. A woman who is the only one on a crew, with no mentor and no one to ask a question without being judged, is at higher risk of leaving. The one woman who left a toxic site stayed in the trade, but she did not stay with that employer. Supervisors set the tone, and a site that loses people to a better crew pays for it in vacancies and rehiring.
It also matters for electrical, carpentry, plumbing and other trades employers in Ontario and across Canada who rely on apprentices. Apprentices have the least power on site and the thinnest networks. The authors note that informal networks that help men often exclude women without family ties to the trade. Employers can fill that gap on purpose.
One thing to do this week
Pick one apprentice or newer tradeperson who is the only woman on her crew and ask her what support she lacks. Then act on one answer: pair her with a mentor, connect her to an existing women-in-trades group, or hold a short conversation with her site supervisor about conduct and how questions are handled.
Traverse helps employers find and keep skilled, reliable people across operations and industrial roles, and we place with the long game in mind, not just the first day on site.